We are a global team of experts, with more than 20 years experience in waste management. We established the D-Waste website in order to provide our services in a unique way.

We believe that sound waste management is a key-issue for the sustainability of the urban ecosystems.

We have learned that the bigger the city the more challenging the waste management is.We have worked in more than 20 countries, with different cultural, economic and social conditions.

Through our experiences we have understood that waste management solutions are only local. And although there are global principles, no city or country will face waste management challenges unless local human resources are prepared for that. And this is what we want to do through D-Waste.

D-Waste provides fully customised, affordable and high quality waste management services through a global network of experts that are available to support clients worldwide. We do believe that waste management solutions will be finally developed by local stakeholders, institutions, and human resources. For that purpose our aim is to provide suitable consulting to those who need it most.

D-Waste's philosophy and approach is simple: we want to make waste management consulting easily accessible and affordable for all those who need it. In that framework we deliver different services with the same concept: easy access and cost-effectiveness.

Solid Waste Management in Bolivia

Editor’ Note: This paper has been targeted for a broad audience. The level of scientific detail provided is therefore not as high as would be normally be required in technical paper subject to peer review by environment industry professionals.

Bolivia is situated in the center of the South American continent. Politically and administratively, it is made up of 9 departments, 112 provinces and 327 municipalities. The territory spreads over 1.098.581 km2 with an average population density of 9,31inhabitants per km2. According to the national census executed by the National Statistics Institute (INE), in the year of 2001 the total population was 8.274.325 inhabitants. Approximately 67% of these occupy urban areas and the other 33% rural areas (INE, 2012)

Solid Waste Management in Bolivia, as there is currently not one city where this management is realized, is directed principally to the work by waste collection services. More specifically, it is directed primarily to the recollection and transportation of wastes, and in the best cases also the final deposition of these wastes in “controlled” waste dumps which contain many technical and environmental defects.

It is calculated that the national per-capita production of domestic wastes in the urban areas of Bolivia is approximately 0,50 kg per person per day, and 0,20 kg per person per day in the rural areas. The variation in waste generation is directly related with the consumption capacity of each municipality as well as the type of waste generated. It is estimated that in the year 2010, 1.745.280 tons of waste was generated in the urban areas only (DGIRS, 2011).

Regarding the composition of the wastes, it can be affirmed that more than half the wastes (55,2%) are biodegradable, 22,1% is recyclable material and 22,7% is considered as unusable waste. While information regarding waste composition is available, it is important to remember that there is as of yet not one city in Bolivia where waste is separated at the origin and/or formal selective recollection services for different types of wastes. Although there have been various attempts in the past at a pilot project level which have attempted this, the lack of preparation and lack of beneficiary population interest have unfortunately always been limitative factors for these types of initiatives (DIGIRS, 2010).

The quantity of dangerous wastes has not been formally quantified except for the wastes originating from health establishments. These wastes are recollected in various ways and deposited in a unique cell apart from the common wastes. In this cell, the wastes receive a unique treatment with Ca O2. In the case of industrial wastes, there are no special recollection services. Because of this, the wastes end up being deposited in waste dumps together with the domiciliary wastes. The same happens with the special wastes, such as tires and construction wastes, which often end up in public areas, rivers and ravines. It is estimated that the annual generation of construction wastes is 43.591 m3 in the city of Cochabamba alone (SGAB-CF, 2009).

Nikos Gargoulas holds a Master Degree(M.Eng.) in Environmental Engineering from the Stevens Institute of Technology, USA and a Bachelor’s Degree (B.Sc.) in Chemistry from the University of Athens, Greece. He...

Carlos Silva Filho is Regional Development Network Representative of ISWA and Coordinator of the South America sub-regional secretariat for IPLA.
(Coordinator of the South America sub-regional secretariat for IPLA - International...

Costas Velis is Director of FUELOGY, a specialised research and management consultancy, delivering solutions on resource efficiency and circular economy, working in the interface between traditional solid waste management, resources...

Aida Anthouli is Environmental Management Consultant, specialized in Solid Waste Management, since 2004. She holds a degree in Physics, and a Master in Environmental Management from Vrije Universiteit, The Nethelands....

Dr. Atilio Savino is Vice-President of ARS-Association for Solid Waste Studies, National Member of ISWA in Argentina, and an Honorary Member of ISWA-International Solid Waste Association. Previously he has been...

Alexandros Mavropoulos is a Solid Waste Management Consultant and holds a diploma of Chemical Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens. Waste Management Planning, development of Waste Management projects...

Natali Ganfer is an Engineer with broad technical experience, having done intense research on upgrades of landfill gas, feasibility studies on Waste-To-Energy plants implementation, and Waste Management systems at Columbia...

Andreas Mentzis is a Chemical Engineer (National Technical University of Athens), with an MSc in Environmental Technology (Imperial College of Science Technology & Medicine) in the field of environmental technology....

Mrs. Sotiria Skoulaxinou holds a BSc degree in Chemical Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens and an MSc degree in Environmental Management. She is a highly experienced engineer,...

Anna Karkazi is a Civil Engineer (National Technical University of Athens), with a European Master (EKPA & University of Rotterdam) for Environmental Management and Education. Mrs Karkazi has excellent managerial...